Sugar Land development issue in council election
Issues driving this year’s election campaigns for Sugar Land City Council include opposing views on development and debate over if requirements should be changed for citizen petitions.
Challenging at-large Position 1 incumbent Himesh Gandhi, 39, in the May 7 election is Diana Miller, 60, a spokeswoman for Sugar Land Votes, a grassroots group that led an unsuccessful petition drive to repeal the city’s recently revised development code and that opposes construction of more apartments.
Running for at-large Position 2 are: Mary Joyce, 56; Peter Simons, 55; Ron Block, 72, and Naomi Lam, 72, who is also associated with Sugar Land Votes.
Miller and Lam object to two proposed amendments to the city charter that are on the ballot, propositions 7 and 8, which would change the city charter to increase the number of signatures needed
for citizen petitions.
The charter requires signatures equaling “30 percent of those voting in the last city election.” The proposed changes would set the bar at “15 percent of qualified registered voters of the city as of the initial petition date,” with Proposition 7 related to petitions for initiatives or referendums and Proposition 8 pertaining to petitions for a recall election.
Sugar Land Votes believes that the spread of apartments could spell crowding for local schools and alter the residential atmosphere of Sugar Land. The group collected more than 3,000 signatures in a petition against Newland Community’s request to build up to 900 multifamily units at the intersection of University Boulevard and U.S. 59.
That petition was declared invalid because city zoning regulations, according to state law, are not subject to repeal by public referendum.
Also up for election is the mayor’s post, being vacated by James Thompson, who is term-limited. The mayoral candidates are: City Council members Harish Jajoo, 61, and Joe Zimmerman, 62, along with political newcomers Sarwar Khan, 62, Kyle Stanley, 29, and Myatt Hancock, 65.
Information on the candidates in the council races is as follows: Block
Block, an attorney who has lived in the city for 16 years, is not affiliated with Sugar Land Votes but said he also has concerns about the potential proliferation of apartments and believes the council needs to be more responsive.
“They have blocked themselves in and separated themselves from the people they represent,” Block said of the council. “I am against the proliferation of apartments and believe we need greater transparency and the ability to more easily approach City Council.”
He objects to the council practice of limiting public comments at meetings to agenda items. He also believes that city taxes can be lowered and that the city budget “needs to be looked at.”
Block said that if elected, he would push for an ordinance to ban texting or use of cell phones while driving. He said he has observed distracted motorists on cell phones who drive too slowly, swerve or drive too fast. He would include an exception for hands-free technology.
Block served as a trustee on Fort Bend ISD from 1990-95. His experience as an attorney in the oil-andgas industry, he said, has enhanced his analytical skills. Joyce
A city resident for 25 years, Joyce believes her background in finance, contract negotiations and project management will help her be an effective leader.
“The development code is an issue that requires clarity, and we need leadership to do that. I have spoken to citizens who are confused by the statements from community members and the city,” she said.
Joyce said that if elected, she will make it a priority to listen to residents and ensure they are informed.
She believes the city is headed in a positive direction. “Given the good Sugar Land tax rate and the city’s AAA bond rating, I would say from a financial standpoint that something is being done correctly,” she said. “Also, in the most recent survey of city residents, 99 percent gave the city an excellent or good rating as a place to raise children.”
The city’s tax rate is almost 31.6 cents per $100 valuation.
Joyce has served on various boards, including as co-chair of the city’s Land Use Advisory Committee and as board member of the Imperial Redevelopment District. Lam
“I’ve been fighting against apartments for a long time,” said Lam, a certified public accountant who is a 30-year city resident and a tax consultant for corporations. “The proliferation of apartments would affect our area negatively.
“We moved to Sugar Land because of the good planning but the City Council has changed that direction,” said Lam, who served on the Fort Bend Independent School District board from 2001-03. “They need to listen to the citizens. Someone needs to stand up and speak for the citizens.” Miller
Miller has lived in Sugar Land for more than 31 years and has owned the real estate firm, Fort Bend Homes, since 2001.
If she wins, this would be Miller’s first time in elected office.
Miller sees the idea to raise the threshold for petition signatures as a threat to residents’ ability to influence change, calling it a move “to protect the city from any future public challenge.”
Miller joined Lam is arguing that the council has a conflict of interest since its members make up the board of the Sugar Land Development Corp., an entity of the city which negotiates incentive programs with developers. Gandhi
Gandhi dismissed Miller and Lam’s claims about conflict of interest on the corporation board.
“Claims of a lack of transparency, conflicts of interest and ulterior motives have no veracity,” he said. “All of the Sugar Land Development Corp. meetings are conducted in the open. All contracts are considered in an open process.”
He said that no underhanded deals are being made by the council or the corporation. Gandhi believes his service as a council member and on past city boards and commissions, including the planning and zoning commission, demonstrates a long-term investment in the city’s success. He works as a corporate attorney and is board certified in commercial real estate by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Simons
Simons worked for the city at the Sugar Land Regional Airport for six years, supervising 15 employees as the manager of lines services. He believes the current council is doing a good job overall and that the city is headed in a positive direction. He, like Block, would like to take a closer look at the city budget. “I would like to see us increase fiscal responsibility,” he said. “I would like for us to look more closely at how the city budget is structured.
“There is a tendency among cities (Sugar Land included), where at the end of the year you try to spend your budget in order to head off budget cuts for the coming year. No company runs its budget like that,” Simons said.
He said his experience as a city employee enabled him to gain an insider’s perspective of how the city budget is run and helped him develop ideas for how it can be improved.
Simons’ background includes traveling the world from 1992 to 2001 with the charity organization Orbis International, which trains doctors on how to perform eye surgeries.
He started as a mechanic and worked his way up to the position of director in the charity’s New York office, supervising 20 employees.
Early voting ends May 3. Visit sugarlandtx.gov under the “Government” tab by clicking “Elections” for more information.